Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 405

405. Lapsus and Sa Gamjae

Woo Yeonwoo, his face pale, clenched his fists and hid in the shadow of the wall.

“Hey, aren’t you Yeonwoo?”

When Rembrary greeted him, Woo Yeonwoo flinched and took a half step back. He immediately returned to his original position, but his anxious face looked so fragile that anyone could tell he wasn’t the Demon King right now.

“What brings you here?”

Woo Yeonwoo, trembling like a startled deer after accidentally eating spicy *tteokbokki* [Korean rice cakes], made Rembrary smile kindly.

“You look like a deer.”

Woo Yeonwoo opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again at Rembrary’s words, his face twisting into a scowl. The fragile look vanished instantly.

Revealing his usual prickly demeanor, Woo Yeonwoo turned sharply, grinding his teeth.

“I must be crazy! Talking to a psycho like you!”

Rembrary quickly followed after him.

“Don’t follow me!”

As Woo Yeonwoo walked faster, Rembrary increased his pace as well. When Woo Yeonwoo started to walk as if running, Rembrary did the same, and when Woo Yeonwoo started running, Rembrary ran along with him.

As the two hurried along as if in a race, people passing by took out their phones to take pictures.

When Rembrary started smiling and responding to them, Woo Yeonwoo, who was walking ahead, turned red in the face and finally couldn’t stand it, pulling on his arm.

“It’s embarrassing, come here! I’m going crazy!”

Woo Yeonwoo only let go of Rembrary when they reached a place where the walls were broken and scattered on the ground. It was a place with hardly any passersby, perhaps because the path was rough and the terrain dangerous.

Staring at the house, half-destroyed and revealing the interior, Woo Yeonwoo pulled on Rembrary’s arm again.

“Why did you follow me?”

“Were you upset because I said you looked like a deer?”

“Would I be happy about that, you moron?”

“But I can’t give up the sloth.”

“I don’t need it!”

When Woo Yeonwoo returned to his usual irritable and prickly self, Rembrary shrugged and asked.

“Why did you come to me in the first place?”

Woo Yeonwoo, who had been shouting, suddenly became calm when Rembrary asked the question, and stood with his hands respectfully clasped.

Rembrary tilted his head as Woo Yeonwoo frowned and stared at the collapsed wall without saying a word.

“Are you worried that the one inside you might hear our conversation?”

Suddenly, a small piece fell from the broken wall with a thud. Woo Yeonwoo was startled and looked over there. A cat stood there like a king.

Even after the cat disappeared behind the wall, Woo Yeonwoo couldn’t take his eyes off it and muttered.

“No. He can’t watch my every move twenty-four hours a day.”

“Is that so? Then what did you come for? Why don’t you speak?”

“…….”

“Yeonwoo?”

When Rembrary raised his index finger, Woo Yeonwoo snapped out of it, stepped back, and cursed.

“You’re trying to poke my eye again!”

“I was trying to bring you to your senses. What did you come to say?”

Rembrary was frustrated that Woo Yeonwoo wouldn’t speak, but Woo Yeonwoo still hesitated.

Then, as a buzzing sound came from his pants pocket, Woo Yeonwoo cursed softly, took out his phone, pressed a button, and muttered.

“Time’s up.”

“Time for what?”

“I’m leaving.”

With those words, Woo Yeonwoo turned and ran. Rembrary thought about following, but this time he didn’t chase after him. He was bothered by the words ‘time’s up.’

“Is there a set time when the Demon King can’t see Woo Yeonwoo?”

* * *

A super rookie who lined up at the top of the music charts as soon as they released their debut album with eleven songs. Although they are a rookie, it would be difficult for anyone other than those involved to meet such a singer at once.

However, Sa Gamjae had once worked at LLL Entertainment, so he used this as a way to easily meet CEO Im and enter the headquarters.

“I’m taking you in, Gamjae-ssi, but I don’t know why. I don’t know why I’m taking you in.”

CEO Im frowned and grumbled, but still swiped his security card, and Sa Gamjae trotted in after him.

“Oh? Gamjae-ssi?”

“Are you coming back?”

“It’s been a while, Gamjae-ssi!”

Company employees who recognized Sa Gamjae greeted him as they passed by. Sa Gamjae greeted each of them, naturally entering the CEO’s office with CEO Im.

As Sa Gamjae closed the door, CEO Im took off his thin coat and hung it on the chair, asking.

“I brought you in on a whim, but what brings you here? Did you really come because you want to be hired again?”

Then, before Sa Gamjae could answer, he put his hands on the back of the chair and frowned.

“Why do I always want to hire Gamjae-ssi when he comes? He was one of the worst workers I’ve ever met?”

He said that, but it seemed like he would hire Sa Gamjae again if he asked to be hired right away.

However, Sa Gamjae waved his hand.

“I didn’t come here to get a job.”

He came to see Lapsus, but this time it wasn’t to monitor him closely. He was just there to check if the strange power felt in Lapsus’s song was related to the Demon King.

“Then?”

“I came to get Lapsus-ssi’s autograph.”

CEO Im, who was walking towards the drawer to take out a candy, frowned and turned around.

“What? You come after years of pretending to be happy to see me, and you say you came to get an autograph?”

“Yes.”

“You should have just said you came to say hello.”

CEO Im, dumbfounded, let out a hollow laugh, but when Sa Gamjae just stood there blankly, he waved his hand.

“Then get your autograph and leave. Ugh, you’re making me nervous. I don’t even want to see your face.”

“Actually, I came to say hello.”

“Enough! Go!”

* * *

Having obtained CEO Im’s permission, Sa Gamjae was safely led to Lapsus by an employee.

“He’s here.”

The employee went to the front of a room where he was practicing singing and pointed to the glass wall. Even though it was soundproofed, the sound of a piano could be heard faintly.

Sa Gamjae narrowed his eyes and looked through the long, rectangular glass. Lapsus was pressing the piano keys with a blank expression. Even faintly, the song that was flowing out was very sad.

“He’s practicing because he’s going to play the piano and sing at the autograph session.”

“He’s not very good at it.”

“It’s just for fan service.”

As the employee turned the doorknob, Lapsus stopped playing the piano and turned his head.

Even though they had never worked together, he should have recognized that he was a Grim Reaper, but Lapsus didn’t show any reaction even after seeing Sa Gamjae.

“Lapsus-ssi, this is Gamjae-ssi, who used to work at our company. He said he wanted to get an autograph from Lapsus-ssi as a souvenir, so I brought him here. Is that okay?”

When Lapsus nodded, the employee quickly took out the paper and pen he had brought and handed them over.

However, instead of signing right away, Lapsus clicked the pen and asked.

“I want to talk to someone I know. Can you give us some privacy?”

“Oh? You know each other?”

The employee widened his eyes and looked back and forth between Sa Gamjae and Lapsus, then smiled and nudged Sa Gamjae.

“You should have said so earlier!”

The bright atmosphere was shattered as soon as the employee left, with the sound of the keys being struck hard. Lapsus, who had been calm all along, kicked the piano chair and rushed towards Sa Gamjae as soon as the door closed.

As if he had expected this, Sa Gamjae twisted his body to the side to avoid Lapsus. Almost simultaneously, swords of opposite forms appeared in their hands. A visible sword and an invisible sword.

The two swords collided, making a sound of sparks flying. As the swords collided repeatedly, the lights flickered on and off along with the sound of sparks.

Sa Gamjae clicked his tongue, dodging the sword that was difficult to deal with because it was transparent. At first glance, Lapsus’s eyes looked fine, but as soon as the fight started, the whites of his eyes immediately turned black.

“I wondered where you went after leaving the underworld. Did you join hands with the Demon King?”

Instead of answering, Lapsus swung his sword wildly, and Sa Gamjae opened the door and left.

It was an action taken because he had found the answer and didn’t need to fight anymore, but it was perfectly effective. Lapsus, who was disguised as a singer, couldn’t follow him out.

Sa Gamjae straightened his loosened tie with one hand and looked inside the door. Lapsus also put away his sword and was looking at him.

“I guess it’s better not to get an autograph?”

Sa Gamjae, pointing to the pen and paper rolling on the floor with his finger, immediately turned his body.

Lapsus followed him to the door, but instead of chasing after him, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

Pressing the elevator button, Sa Gamjae glanced at him. Surprisingly, Lapsus had a smile on his face.

As the door opened with a ‘ding’ sound, Sa Gamjae turned his head back to the front to get on it.

The moment his foot touched the elevator floor. Lapsus’s farewell greeting mixed with laughter was heard.

“We’ll meet again, Grim Reaper.”

* * *

“Huh? Are you leaving already?”

As Sa Gamjae went down to the first-floor lobby, the employee who had guided him to Lapsus’s practice room earlier recognized him while talking to another employee.

“Yes. I’ll see you again next time.”

*Are you just going to come again to get an autograph?* The employee thought sullenly, but didn’t show it and answered that he would.

Sa Gamjae smiled gently, nodded his head, and left the headquarters, walking into a deserted alley. It was to return to the underworld, but as soon as he arrived in the alley, he leaned against the wall and staggered.

“?”

Sa Gamjae put his hand on the cool wall and blinked his eyes a few times. Even though he had staggered, it was difficult to know what was going on. There was no way a Grim Reaper like him could have orthostatic hypotension [low blood pressure upon standing] or anemia.

Shaking his head quickly, Sa Gamjae felt a gaze looking down from above and raised his head. A shadow was visible in the window. Someone was looking down at him.

The shadow nonchalantly waved its hand when Sa Gamjae saw it, then turned around and went inside.

Sa Gamjae roughly calculated the position of the window. It seemed to be the location of the practice room from earlier.

Closing his eyes and frowning, the dark and sad piano sound that had been faintly heard beyond the soundproof room lingered in his ears like an auditory hallucination.

‘Rembrary.’

Sa Gamjae immediately left that place.

* * *

“Then the building next to the one where Kkokko is having the autograph session? Can’t we do it there?”

“That’s a private residence…….”

“What if we asked them to leave for a while?”

“Do you think they would leave?”

“Then what if we held an autograph session in front of the building where Kkokko is having the autograph session? On the street.”

It was when Shin Joowoon’s expression was becoming increasingly dissatisfied as Rembrary spoke. Someone hurriedly rang the doorbell.

Rembrary stared at the map that Shin Joowoon had put up on the tablet computer, then turned his gaze to the front door.

Just then, the Lion Lord, who was in the kitchen, moved there in the blink of an eye and opened the door instead.

“Rembrary.”

The one who appeared as soon as the door opened was unexpectedly Sa Gamjae in a black suit.

“Just a moment. I need some healing.”

Sa Gamjae, who looked too healthy for someone who needed healing, sat next to Rembrary and took off his tie, placing it next to him.

“Where does it hurt?”

Rembrary, who found it strange that he was asking for treatment when he didn’t seem to have any injuries, asked, and Sa Gamjae pointed to his head with his finger.

“I went to see that Lapsus guy, and it seems like he did something. I don’t know what it is, but the piano sound he was playing won’t leave my head.”

“Piano sound?”

When Rembrary asked back, Sa Gamjae nodded his head and cursed softly in an annoyed voice.

“He’s not even good at it, but that clumsy sound keeps ringing. Damn it.”

“Why did you go see Kkokko?”

Even as he asked the question, Rembrary obediently raised his hand. Then, just as he was about to bring his hand near Sa Gamjae’s head. Rembrary’s phone rang.

“Just a moment.”

Rembrary put his hand down and answered the phone.

Sa Gamjae sighed, as if the matter wasn’t urgent, and then finally discovered Shin Joowoon, who was staring at him.

Shin Joowoon met Sa Gamjae with a smiling face, but his eyes were filled with displeasure.

Sa Gamjae also didn’t like Shin Joowoon, who had turned his colleagues into ice, so he frowned and stared at him.

The Lion Lord was worried about whether to continue watching here or go into the room and close the door, as he was unnecessarily watching the two of them. The atmosphere quickly became stiff and sharp.

What broke that frozen atmosphere was Rembrary’s voice, which was darker than usual.

“What do you mean? You can’t use ‘Miracle’?”